“You couldn’t make that up if you wanted to make a movie like that,” Charlotte coach Alan Major said.

The quick version: In the final 4.7 seconds, Richmond was called for two personal fouls and three technical fouls, and Charlotte’s Pierria Henry made 8-of-11 free throw attempts to turn a potential Spiders victory into a five-point loss.

“It’s a pretty devastating way to lose a game,” Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. “I feel bad for our players and for the fans because I really felt we put ourselves in position to win the game.”

Here’s the slightly more extended version of what transpired at the end of the game. The Spiders led 63-60 when Richmond’s Cedrick Lindsay fouled Henry with 4.7 seconds left to keep the 49ers from even attempting a potentially game-tying 3-pointer. The strategy was sound, but the Spiders’ execution backfired. As Henry made the front end of his one-and-one, Richmond’s Derrick Williams shoved Willie Clayton as they battled for position for the rebound, his forearm to the chest going high and hitting Clayton in the neck.

Because Henry made the free throw, it was a dead-ball situation, which is why Williams was given a technical foul instead of a personal foul.

After a lengthy discussion between the three referees, Henry made the back end of his one-and-one and then drained both of the technical free throws to put the 49ers ahead 64-63. Because of the technical, Charlotte got the ball back at midcourt.

There were still 4.7 seconds left on the clock.

The 49ers inbounded the ball to Henry; Lindsay tried to foul him but wasn’t called immediately. When Greg Robbins did fouled Henry, though, the Charlotte point guard put up a crazy shot—remember, he was some 45 feet from the basket. The referees called it a shooting foul and granted him three free throws.

“We were definitely surprised they called it a shooting foul,” Lindsay said.

This, obviously, upset Mooney and everyone on the Richmond bench. The Spiders were hit with two more technical fouls and Mooney was ejected after he went 20 feet on the court to sound his displeasure. Mooney apologized after the game on multiple occasions.

“I was confused by that call,” Mooney said. “I thought we had fouled him when he was on the ground.”

Henry went back to the line for seven more free-throw attempts—three for the shooting foul, and two more for each technical foul. He wound up making 8-of-11 attempts in the final 4.7 seconds, which gave the 49ers the five-point victory.

“When we huddled up with my teammates, they told me, ‘Man, you’re gonna make this, we’re gonna win and we’re moving on and taking care of business the next day,’ ” Henry said. “I just thank God for giving me the opportunity and my teammates for just believing in me.”

The 49ers advance to the quarterfinals on Friday, where they’ll face the top-seeded Saint Louis Billikens at noon ET.

For Charlotte, this was another big moment for a program poised for a breakthrough season in 2013-14. The 49ers are jumping from the Atlantic 10 to Conference USA, a move that goes along with the arrival of the school’s new football program. It’s a conference that will be up for grabs, with basketball bully Memphis moving to the “old Big East,” and the step down in competition level won’t hurt Charlotte’s chances of improving on a better-than-expected 2012-13 season.

With a young roster, the 49ers were picked 12th in the A-10 preseason media poll. To reach the 20-win plateau and make the A-10 Tournament—only 12 of the 16 teams qualify—has to be considered a pretty good success. And the 49ers return just about everyone of significance, aside from senior Chris Braswell—and his 11 points per game will be replaced by year-over-year improvements from Charlotte’s group of young players.

Henry isn’t a great shooter but is an excellent passer and on-court leader who isn’t afraid to take the ball into the lane. Good basketball teams can win big games against quality competition with a point guard like Henry—who had a double-double Thursday with 28 points and 12 rebounds to go along with four assists—running the show.

Freshman Denzel Ingram has developed into a reliable ballhandler, and he’s shown signs of being the outside shooter the 49ers have lacked this season. Sophomore wings E. Victor Nickerson and Terrence Williams have had their big-game moments this season, and with another summer of skill refinement should be ready to step up.

And then, there are the three freshmen big men who will form the 49ers’ core for the next several years. Willie Clayton (6-8, 236) and Darion Clark (6-6, 233) are strong, physical bigs with a knack for grabbing offensive rebounds. They’ve both been better at defending and rebounding than scoring this season, but both show the ability to be reliable offensive threats—in the 10- to 12-point range, not 16-18—in the post.

And then there’s Mike Thorne, a 6-10, 254-pound freshman who is more raw but has had stretches of effective play against some of the bigger teams the 49ers have faced—such as his 10-point, seven-rebound performance against Temple on Feb. 24.

The experience of playing in the Atlantic 10 Tournament and pulling off a victory like Wednesday's—aside from the late bizarre happenings, the 49ers rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit—can only help with their preparations for next season, too.